DCFUD

June 17, 2005

Bubble Tea!

I love bubble tea. I know many who think it's gross, but I love it; I love the oversweet tea, the strange tapioca balls, and the oversized straws you drink it all through.

You can imagine my delight (and my bank account's horror) when walking to my office this morning I notice a brightly colored sign in the window of the once-great-but-now-mostly-mediocre Lawson's Gourmet advertising their newest offering: Bubble Tea!!!!

So for my afternoon sugar break, I went down to Lawson's and paid my whopping $3.85 (incl. tax). Their menu is confusing: it appears that they have many flavors of bubble tea (as you can get at a proper Chinese place), but they only have Black Tea. "Oh well," I thought, my dreams of green tea flavored bubble tea returning to their dark corners in my mind, and ordered Black Tea flavor.

The tea itself was a bit too bitter - probably brewed too hot (as seems to be the custom in these parts) and too long (ditto) to boot - but the sweet milk with which it was mixed canceled most of that out. The tapioca pearls, which are what makes Bubble Tea so special, were good, if a bit mushy. I expect this will improve as Lawson's staff gain a bit of experience handling them, and as long as they don't go all the way to the other end and end up hard and awful like the miserable Teaism bubble tea, I'll be happy. There was also a bit too much ice in my cup. More
flavors would be nice.

I'll have another one tomorrow.

Lawson's Gourmet
1350 Connecticut Ave, NW
Washington DC 20036

Posted by maw at June 17, 2005 9:01 AM

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Comments

That is, indeed, very exciting news. Love that bubble tea.

Posted by: MJF at June 17, 2005 12:12 PM

For the best bubble tea in the area - try the following places (nothing in DC though):

1. A&J in Rockville/Annadale - super cheap, and tons of flavor (only black tea though)
2. Ten Renh - the chain that's all over Asia and NY - super YUM, it's on rockville, and they have tons of flavor and green and black tea selection.
3. Green Tea Cafe (MY FAVORITE!) is a little cafe that a lot of young people hang out at...http://www.greenteacafe.com/

Posted by: CKC at June 17, 2005 8:17 PM

Acutally, the bubble tea from A&J is not that good. Quite tepid/lukewarm.

Go down a few blocks toward alexandria on little river turnpike to go to Shilla's Cafe. They make some fruity bubble tea/slush that is delish. Vvery cold.

Posted by: joke at June 19, 2005 8:29 PM

There's a place called Koots here which has a kuromitsu (kind of like molasses) green tea latte with tapioca in it. It's about 500 yen (about $4.50)

here's a picture
http://takama.jugem.jp/?eid=276

Posted by: travis at June 21, 2005 12:15 AM

Whoever thinks BB-tea is disgusting needs to be shot. Okay, that was a bit hyperbolic, but I just don't understand how you can hate it.

Posted by: Assamite at June 22, 2005 1:53 AM

I moved here from Houston and have family all over LA and Taipei. I am amazed that DC does not have a good bubble tea place. Because of this, I have spent the past year trying to open a bubble tea shop in DC. Finding the right location with an affordable rent is my biggest challenge. In the meantime, I have worked at several area festivals test marketing my product; received great feedback so far. If you see any locations or for lease signs anywhere that you think would make a great bubble tea shop location, go to my website and let me know!

Posted by: Vicki at July 5, 2005 3:37 PM

Got news: opening next week in Georgetown a crêpe and bubble tea cafe: 'snap': 1062 Thomas Jefferson.
We will have traditional crêpes and a few asian inspired options. We will also have Pocari Sweat, Ramune and other low calorie/zero calorie Japanese bottled drinks. Plan to be open 8am to 9pm. Come by and bring friends!

Posted by: margarita at July 22, 2005 4:22 AM

June 17, 2005

Bubble Tea!

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